GṚIDHRA-KÛṬA HILL, AND LEGENDS. Fâ-Hien PASSES A NIGHT ON IT. HIS
REFLECTIONS.
Entering the valley, and keeping along the mountains on the
south-east, after ascending fifteen le, (the travellers) came to mount
Gṛidhra-kûṭa.[1] Three le before you reach the top, there is a cavern
in the rocks, facing the south, in which Buddha sat in meditation.
Thirty paces to the north-west there is another, where Ânanda was
sitting in meditation, when the deva Mâra Piśuna,[2] having assumed
the form of a large vulture, took his place in front of the cavern,
and frightened the disciple. Then Buddha, by his mysterious,
supernatural power, made a cleft in the rock, introduced his hand, and
stroked Ânanda’s shoulder, so that his fear immediately passed away.
The footprints of the bird and the cleft for (Buddha’s) hand are still
there, and hence comes the name of ‘The Hill of the Vulture Cavern.’
In front of the cavern there are the places where the four Buddhas
sat. There are caverns also of the Arhats, one where each sat and
meditated, amounting to several hundred in all. At the place where in
front of his rocky apartment Buddha was walking from east to west
(in meditation), and Devadatta, from among the beetling cliffs on the
north of the mountain, threw a rock across, and hurt Buddha’s toes,[3]
the rock is still there.[4]
The hall where Buddha preached his Law has been destroyed, and only
the foundations of the brick walls remain. On this hill the peak is
beautifully green, and rises grandly up; it is the highest of all the
five hills. In the New City Fâ-hien bought incense-(sticks), flowers,
oil and lamps, and hired two bhikshus, long resident (at the place),
to carry them (to the peak). When he himself got to it, he made his
offerings with the flowers and incense, and lighted the lamps when
the darkness began to come on. He felt melancholy, but restrained his
tears and said, ‘Here Buddha delivered the Śûrâṅgama (Sûtra).[5] I,
Fâ-hien, was born when I could not meet with Buddha; and now I only
see the footprints which he has left, and the place where he lived,
and nothing more.’ With this, in front of the rock cavern, he chanted
the Śûrâṅgama Sûtra, remained there over the night, and then returned
towards the New City.[6]
NOTES
[1] See chap. xxviii note 1.
[2] See chap. xxv note 9. Piśuna is a name given to Mâra, and
signifies ‘sinful lust.’
[3] See M. B., p. 320. Hardy says that Devadatta’s attempt was ‘by the
help of a machine;’ but the oldest account in the Sacred Books of the
East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 245, agrees with what Fâ-hien implies
that he threw the rock with his own arm.
[4] And, as described by Hsüan-chwang, fourteen or fifteen cubits
high, and thirty paces round.
[5] See Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio’s ‘Catalogue of the Chinese Translation
of the Buddhist tripiṭaka,’ Sûtra Piṭaka, Nos. 399, 446. It was the
former of these that came on this occasion to the thoughts and memory
of Fâ-hien.
[6] In a note (p. lx) to his revised version of our author, Mr. Beal
says, ‘There is a full account of this perilous visit of Fâ-hien, and
how he was attacked by tigers, in the “History of the High Priests.”’
But ‘the high priests’ merely means distinguished monks, ‘eminent
monks,’ as Mr. Nanjio exactly renders the adjectival character. Nor
was Fâ-hien ‘attacked by tigers’ on the peak. No ‘tigers’ appear in
the Memoir. ‘Two black lions’ indeed crouched before him for a time
this night, ‘licking their lips and waving their tails;’ but their
appearance was to ‘try,’ and not to attack him; and when they saw
him resolute, they ‘drooped their heads, put down their tails, and
prostrated themselves before him.’ This of course is not an historical
account, but a legendary tribute to his bold perseverance.